Southeastern Legal Foundation, Inc., Second Amendment Sisters, Inc., Women Against Gun Control, 60 Plus Association, Inc., Robert B
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No. 07-290 ================================================================ In The Supreme Court of the United States --------------------------------- ♦ --------------------------------- DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA AND ADRIAN M. FENTY, MAYOR OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Petitioners, v. DICK ANTHONY HELLER, Respondent. --------------------------------- ♦ --------------------------------- On Writ Of Certiorari To The United States Court Of Appeals For The District Of Columbia Circuit --------------------------------- ♦ --------------------------------- BRIEF OF AMICI CURIAE SOUTHEASTERN LEGAL FOUNDATION, INC., SECOND AMENDMENT SISTERS, INC., WOMEN AGAINST GUN CONTROL, 60 PLUS ASSOCIATION, INC., ROBERT B. SMITH, J.D., CHRISTIE DAVIES, M.A., Ph.D., JOE MICHAEL COBB, AND MRS. MINNIE LEE FAULKNER IN SUPPORT OF RESPONDENT --------------------------------- ♦ --------------------------------- SHANNON LEE GOESSLING Counsel of Record STEPHEN DANA MORRISON JR. SOUTHEASTERN LEGAL FOUNDATION, INC. 6100 Lake Forrest Drive, N.W. Suite 520 Atlanta, Georgia 30328 (404) 257-9667 February 11, 2008 Counsel for Amici Curiae ================================================================ COCKLE LAW BRIEF PRINTING CO. (800) 225-6964 OR CALL COLLECT (402) 342-2831 i QUESTION PRESENTED Whether the following provisions – D.C. Code §§ 7-2502.02(a)(4), 22-4504(a), and 7-2507.02 – violate the Second Amendment rights of individuals who are not affiliated with any state-regulated militia, but who wish to keep handguns and other firearms for private use in their homes? ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page QUESTION PRESENTED..................................... i TABLE OF CONTENTS......................................... ii TABLE OF AUTHORITIES ................................... v INTERESTS OF AMICI CURIAE ......................... 1 SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT ................................ 3 ARGUMENT........................................................... 5 I. The Brief’s Structure................................... 5 II. Empirical Research Illustrates the Use of the Individual Right of Armed Self-Defense Embodied In the Second Amendment for the Benefit of Women, the Elderly and the Physically Disabled...................................... 7 A. Empirical Research Supports the Com- mon Sense Argument That the Use of Handguns Protects Women, the Eld- erly and the Physically Disabled from Greater Physical Threat........................ 7 B. The Amici Curiae Brief Filed By Vio- lence Policy Center in Support of Ap- pellants Incorrectly Characterizes the Value of the Handgun as an Effective Means of Self-Defense ........................... 17 III. The Historical Context of the Second Amendment Conclusively Demonstrates the Preexisting Right of Personal Armed Self-Defense ................................................. 22 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS – Continued Page IV. Anecdotal Evidence and Declarations Illustrate the Critical Importance of the Individual Right of Armed Self-Defense Embodied In the Second Amendment for Women, the Elderly and the Physically Disabled........................................................ 25 A. Recent Anecdotes Effectively Illustrate the Importance of the Personal Right of Armed Self-Defense for Women, the Elderly and the Physically Disabled .... 25 1. Home Invasions................................ 26 2. Parking Lot Incidents ...................... 34 B. Nancy Hart and Minnie Lee Faulkner: Historical and Present Day Illustra- tions of How Firearms Deter Assail- ants ........................................................ 36 1. Nancy Hart: Revolutionary War No- table Used Firearms for Personal and Family Security......................... 36 2. Minnie Lee Faulkner: A Modern Il- lustration That the Use of a Fire- arm Deters an Attacker ................... 38 CONCLUSION ....................................................... 40 APPENDIX Declaration of Massad F. Ayoob ..........................App. 1 Declaration of Judith Kuntz .............................App. 19 Declaration of Theresa M. Wachowiak .............App. 21 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS – Continued Page Declaration of James H. Workman, Jr..............App. 24 Declaration of Minnie Lee Faulkner ................App. 26 v TABLE OF AUTHORITIES Page CASES DeShaney v. Winnebago County Department of Social Services, 489 U.S. 189 (1989) ......................24 District of Columbia, et al. v. Dick Anthony Heller, No. 07-290, Brief of Violence Policy Center, et al. as Amici Curiae Supporting Petitioners (January 11, 2008) ...............................17 District of Columbia, et al. v. Dick Anthony Heller, No. 07-290, Brief for International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association, et al. as Amici Curiae Support- ing Respondents (February 11, 2008) ....................14 Kasler v. Lockyer, 23 Cal. 4th 472 (2000) ..................23 Warren v. District of Columbia, 444 A.2d 1 (D.C. Appeals 1981).................................................24 CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS U.S. CONST. amend. II ........................................passim BOOKS AND SCHOLARLY JOURNALS 2 WILLIAM BLACKSTONE, COMMENTARIES (1976)..........23 Ayoob, Massad F., In the Gravest Extreme, The Role of the Firearm in Personal Protection 47 (Massad F. and Dorothy A. Ayoob 1980)...........19, 20 Bird, Chris, The Concealed Handgun Manual: How to Choose, Carry and Shoot a Gun in Self Defense (2007) ......................................17, 18, 19 vi TABLE OF AUTHORITIES – Continued Page Bordua, D.J. and Lizotte, A.J., A Subcultural Model Of Firearms Ownership In Illinois, LAW AND POLICY QUARTERLY, 2 (1979) .....................10 Bureau of the Census, U.S. Dep’t of Commerce, Statistical Abstract of the United States 108 (107th ed. 1987).........................................................8 Dyer, Kenneth F., Challenging the Men: The Social Biology of Female Sporting Achievement (1982).....................................................................7, 8 THE FEDERALIST NO. 46 (James Madison)....................5 Kates, Don B., Firearms and Violence: Old Premises, Current Evidence, Violence in America, Vol. 1 (T. Gurr ed. 1989) ..........................16 Kleck, Gary, Crime Control Through the Private Use of Armed Force, SOCIAL PROBLEMS, Vol. 35, No. 1 (February 1988).................................11, 15 Kleck, Gary & Mark Gertz, Armed Resistance to Crime: The Prevalence And Nature Of Self- Defense With A Gun, THE JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL LAW AND CRIMINOLOGY, Vol. 86, No. 1 (1995)........................................................13, 14, 15 Kleck, Gary & Mark Gertz, Carrying Guns for Protection: Results from the National Self- Defense Survey, JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN CRIME AND DELINQUENCY, Vol. 35, No. 2 (May, 1998) ........................................................................14 Kleck, Gary, Policy Lessons From Recent Gun Control Research, LAW AND CONTEMPORARY PROBLEMS, Vol. 49, No. 1 (Winter, 1986).................12 vii TABLE OF AUTHORITIES – Continued Page Kleck, Gary, Targeting Guns: Firearms and Their Control (Aldine de Gruyter 1997).................13 Larish, Inge Anna, Why Annie Can’t Get Her Gun: A Feminist Perspective on the Second Amendment, 1996 U. ILL. L. REV. 467 (1996)....7, 8, 9 Lizotte, Allan J., Determinants of Completing Rape and Assault, JOURNAL OF QUANTITATIVE CRIMINOLOGY, 2 (1986).............................................11 Lizotte, Allan J., D.J Bordua & C.S. White, Firearms Ownership For Sport And Protection: Two Not So Divergent Models, AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW, 46 (1981).............................10 Lizotte, Allan J., & D.J. Bordua, Firearms Ownership For Sport And Protection: Two Divergent Models, AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW, 45 (1980)....................................................10 McCullar, Bernice, This is Your Georgia 284 (The American Southern Publishing Company 1966) ..................................................................36, 37 Ouzts, Clay, Nancy Hart (ca. 1735-1830), History and Archeology, The New Georgia Encyclo- pedia, http://www.newgeorgiaencyclopedia. org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2876&hl=y (last vis- ited February 7, 2008)......................................36, 37 Rogers, Loula Kendall, A True Story of Nancy Hart, ATLANTA JOURNAL, October 14, 1901.............36 viii TABLE OF AUTHORITIES – Continued Page Stone, Shomari, CBS 4 Home Page, Man Turns on Would-Be Robbers, Kills One, http://cbs4. com/local/crimestoppers.home.invasion.2.606 903.html (last visited February 5, 2008)................27 Suter, Edgar A., Guns in the Medical Literature – A Failure of Peer Review, 83 J. MED. ASS’N GA. 133 (1994) ...........................................................9 Tark, Jongyeon & Gary Kleck, Resisting Crime: The Effects of Victim Action on the Outcomes of Crimes, CRIMINOLOGY, Vol. 42, No. 4 (November, 2004) ........................................................................14 Toch, Hans & Allan J. Lizotte, Research and Policy: The Case of Gun Control, PSYCHOLOGY AND SOCIAL POLICY (1992) .............................9, 11, 12 WEBSTER’S AMERICAN DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, http://1828.mshaffer.com/d/search/ word,security (1828 ed.) (last visited February 1, 2008) ......................................................................5 Wolfgang, Marvin E., A Tribute to a View I Have Opposed, THE JOURNAL OF LAW AND CRIMINOLOGY (Fall, 1995) ........................................12 Wright, J.D. and Rossi P., Armed And Consid- ered Dangerous: A Survey Of Felons And Their Firearms, Hawthorne, NY (Aldine de Gruyter 1986)..........................................................12